Touhou Kuroneko: Black Cat of the Outside World
by ZEROGRAVITYA01
Summary: A fox hanyou and young nekomata from the outside world fall into Gensokyo, and subsequently begin to adapt to a new world around them. As expected, OC alert, and some wandering around Gensokyo.
1. Diving into the Unknown

Alright, finally I managed to re-do parts and bits of this fanfic. If you read the older fanfics I made before, you might notice a couple of familiar faces. After taking a long break from posting on , I present to you: Touhou Kuroneko ~ Black Cat of the Outside World.

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><p>CHAPTER 1: Diving into the Unknown<p>

In the past, there was a land named Gensokyo, which was inhabited by powerful youkais and spirits. People were sent there to exterminate youkai, and when they succeeded, they live there to watch over the place.

As time passed, the humans who live in Gensokyo distanced themselves from the outside world, making Gensokyo as their haven.

The Hakurei Shrine was established to protect the people of Gensokyo and to watch over the border that lies between the outside world and Gensokyo itself.

With the border in place, the outside world doesn't even know that Gensokyo ever existed. However, even with the border placed, it doesn't mean that some people couldn't cross it.

~Yamato Shrine, Taman Rinting, Malaysia [Night]~

It was the day of the crescent moon. The stars that sparkled in the sky added the beauty to the night. The night was still young, as many would say.

The Yamato Shrine, like other houses in its vicinity in Taman Rinting was still brightly lighted.

However, not everyone chose to stay awake at this particular night. One of them was none other than Amir Hakim – the bearer of the powerful Feline Pendant.

"Thanks for letting me stay, Mrs. Reika."

"Are you okay with that? I mean, your family was taking a long holiday trip…"

"It's okay. I actually insisted on staying." Amir said while grinning. "After all, we had visited that place a number of times, and it's the end-of-year holidays."

She nodded. "If you say so. Good night." Reika said, before she turned the lights off and left the guest room.

As Amir laid his back on the comfy mattress, he snuggled himself in the soft, dark blue blanket that was given by Reika. But, before he could sleep, someone pounced on him. There was a brief struggle before a loud thud and a boyish giggle could be heard.

"I knew it was you, Arikado." He sighed.

"It's still 8, why you're going to sleep so early?"

"I'm going to sleep early because I'm bored. There's nothing else to do other than watching the TV. And I know your brother and his friend are going to hog the TV and watch that football match tonight."

Arikado pouted. "How about some videogames?"

"Not gonna."

"Well, how about we sneak out and go for some stargazing?" Arikado suggested.

"I prefer sleeping than looking at the cloudy." Amir replied as he snuggled back into his blanket.

"Aww, the sky's clear tonight… Please?" Arikado, the fox begged. "Pretty please with cream on top?"

The black cat rolled his eyes away. "Alright. Fine. To the treehouse. But you have to take my shoes first."

"Right on!"

As soon as the agreement was made, Amir threw off his tracksuit and t-shirt before throwing in his 'adventure gear' – a baby sweater worn over a black t-shirt and shorts. He wore a pair of wristbands and socks before he followed Arikado – jumping out of the window of the guest room, which was a storey high.

"W-wait! It-"

Amir landed safely on the ground, as if his fall was cushioned by a mattress.

"Um, scratch that. I forgot that you're a cat." Arikado remarked while scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Amir slipped on his running shoes that Arikado had handed over to him before he jumped in one spot twice to make sure the shoes fit snugly.

"What do you know…? It's getting cloudy." Amir said in a matter-of-factly tone as he looked up.

Arikado looked up and saw the crescent moon slowly being 'eaten' by the dark clouds. At this point his ears flattened on his head in disappointment before he let out an audible whine. "…awww…"

The black cat smiled slightly as he stretched himself. "Well, back to the blankets then!" Amir spoke in a half-yelling voice, so that he couldn't alarm Reika.

"Well, I do but…" Arikado stopped in mid-speech. "Wait… Amir, look behind you…"

"What?" Amir whirled around on his heels to see the thing Arikado's index finger was pointing. "Who's that?"

"I wish I could answer that question…"

Despite the moonless night, Arikado and Amir could see a blonde woman sitting in mid-air near the mangosteen tree the two used to climb. Both of them curiously inched closer to the peculiar woman.

"_Are you sure this is a good idea?"_

"_Hopefully."_

"_I don't like that tone."_

Before long, she stood on the ground, giving the two youngsters a glance. With a flick of her fan, she created what seems to be a portal. She then stepped into it.

But, as they say, curiosity killed the cat – and the fox in this matter.

"Hey! Miss! Wait!"

Before the cleft closes, the two youngsters quickly ran towards it and dived into it.

~Unknown Area [Night]~

After being rendered unconscious for a while, Amir slowly woke up in stinging pain on his forehead. He figured out that the portal opened somewhere else and he accidentally headbutted a tree on his exit.

When he looked around, he noticed that Arikado was nowhere near him.

"Arikado? Arikado, where are you?" He called for the young fox, but he didn't receive an answer at all.

Despite the massive headache, Amir still managed to stand up.

"Arikado! Can you hear me?" Amir raised his voice and called for Arikado again.

There was a moment of silence until his calls were replied by a loud scream and a thud. Amir recognized the voice's owner right away – it was Arikado. Using his cat senses, he quickly ran towards the source of the voice.

* * *

><p>The black cat stopped running once he reached the place where the scream came from. He could sense Arikado's scent, along with other scents he couldn't distinguish.<p>

"Heeey! Arikado! Where are you?"

Still, there was no reply from the fox. Instead, he heard a loud rustling in the bushes, which made him to take caution.

"Show yourselves!" Amir yelled to hide his fear.

And then, what he could see next is spots of bright light before it bombarded on him. Amir staggered backwards and he saw the same bright spots again. This time, he dived behind the trees to avoid of being hit.

This is when he saw Arikado, lying face down on the ground, clearly unconscious. Amir quickly ran towards Arikado to fetch him, but he was stopped as a beam of red light went straight for him.

The beam missed him by an inch but the blue and red fast bullets hit his chest and his arm, the third one made Amir stagger and turn his vision red. The black cat could hear his heart beating at this point.

And then, the fourth bullet hit him in the head again, knocking him out effectively. Amir slumped against a tree and went unconscious.

After a moment of silence, two small female figures with translucent wings appeared from behind the bushes. From their outward appearance, they appear to be fairies.

"I think we got them."

"Don't you think this is wrong? I mean, they are not even fighting back."

"Well, we are attacking them because it's fun~!"

Suddenly, a voice startled the fairies.

"Ara, ara… don't you fairies have anything else to do other than attacking people at random?"

The fairies froze when they recognized the owner of the voice.

"Yu…Yu… Yukari Yakumo…?"

"That's right. Now leave those boys alone or else…" The woman, who was addressed as Yukari Yakumo trailed off her words, threatened the fairies.

The fairies then fled from the general area, leaving the woman Yukari Yakumo and both Amir Hakim and Arikado Yamato. With a flick of her fan, she created a portal, letting the boys sink slowly into it. She then followed the boys, by creating another cleft right underneath her feet.

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><p>Yukari gaps into her house, bringing along the unconscious boys. As soon as she set her foot on the floor, she laid the boys on the tatami floor.<p>

"Welcome home, Yukari-sama." A young woman with nine fox tails greeted. "Who are they?" The nine-tailed woman asked when she noticed Amir and Arikado being laid on the floor. But, upon seeing the smile on Yukari's face, she quickly got to the point. "You kidnapped people from the outside world, again?"

"I took a trip to a shrine in the Outside World, but it seems that I attracted its inhabitants along." She said, taking a good look at the unconscious youngsters. "A youkai cat and a fox hanyou… interesting. I didn't know youkai existed in the Outside World."

"What are you planning to do with them then? Shouldn't you be returning them back home by now?"

She smiled. "I'm letting them stay, Ran. How about we clean them up a bit?"

"Eh… sure. I'll be right back." Ran said. Few minutes later she returned with some washing towels and a small water basin. Yukari on the other hand procured some replacement clothes from her portals.

The two women then began wiping off some dirt off the youngsters' skin, before taking off their clothes and putting on the modest brown kimono paired with a hakama.

"That must have been quite an impact." Yukari said, mentioning the swelling bump on Amir's head. A mere light contact was enough to make the black cat squirm. "This might hurt you in your dreams, but please bear with it." She then lightly pressed the lukewarm cloth on the bump.

Few minutes later, they are done.

"Well, that takes care of that. Ran, spread a futon in my room, please." She ordered her shikigami.

An uneasy silence ensued when Yukari finished talking.

"…You're sleeping with them?"

Yukari smiled. "Why not? After all, they look like they really need a hug~"

At this point, Ran gave up. It's really hard to argue with Yukari.

Right after that, Ran took out a futon and laid it next to Yukari's futon. She spread it, putting a blanket and few pillows on it. Yukari walked into her room, transporting both Amir and Arikado with her portals before she slowly laid them on the futon. By the time she's finished, Ran went to her own room.

For a finishing touch, Yukari spread a warm blanket over both black cat and fox, rubbing their ears gently before she changed clothes and went to her usual deep sleep.

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><p>Notes: There are no Shinto shrines in Malaysia – I just made that one up for the sake of my old stories.<p> 


	2. Good Morning, Two Tails

CHAPTER 2: Good Morning, Two-Tails

~Mayohiga, Yakumo Household [Morning]~

When the sun rises, Amir, Arikado and Yukari was still fast asleep. The black cat somehow had found his way to Yukari's futon, snuggling comfortably within the gap youkai's hug while Arikado was still lying on his futon.

The sliding door opened, and Ran appeared at the doorframe.

"Yukari-sama, breakfast is ready…" Then Ran saw Yukari sleeping with Amir in her hug. "I knew it."

Yukari's shikigami woke Arikado first, and to her surprise, the little fox hanyou woke up instantly. Next up, she tried waking the black cat up, but Yukari woke up instead.

"Well that's rare. I was going to wake him up, but you woke up instead."

"I felt like getting up early." She said, before turning towards to the still-sleeping black cat. Since Yukari had loosened the black cat's arms from hers, Amir's expression changed. "Aww. The troubled look on his face makes him look cute. Don't you agree, Ran?"

"I think he lost his hug pillow, that's why."

The gap youkai pinched Amir's cheek. "Rise and shine, little cat. Riiiiiiiiise and shiiiiiiiiine~"

Alarmed, the black cat shot up from the futon in full caution. "Gah! Don't shoot me! I'm unarmed!"

Uneasy silence flooded the room, before Yukari broke it with her chuckles. "Did you have a nice dream? You have been hugging me in your sleep after all."

"…where am I? And where's Arikado?"

Arikado lifted his head from his futon. "I'm over here, dimwit."

"If you're to have breakfast with us, I'd suppose you two need a bath first."

"I'll take care of that." Yukari said, dropping the two into a gap which leads into the bathroom. "You can go ahead and wait for us at the dining room with Chen. We'll come over when it's done."

"Okay." With a bow, Ran the nine-tailed fox walked out of the room.

–––

Meanwhile in the bathroom…

"So… Arikado… how did you end up unconscious in the first place?" Amir said as he threw away the wet kimono and sat on the stool next to the basin where Arikado was in.

Arikado took off the soaked kimono and put it aside. "Environmental headshot. You?"

"Same. Except I dived into a tree." Amir said, lightly touching the bump on his head. "Ow… it still smarts…"

Yukari arrived in the bathroom in her usual way, discreetly creeping up the black cat's back. She then blew into ears, surprising the black cat and made him trash his head around for a brief moment.

"Keeeee…!" Amir shrieked.

The black cat's response made the gap youkai chuckle. "My, my. You're easy to be surprised."

"My ears!" Amir started. However, Yukari's pat to his head calmed him down a bit.

"There, there." She said as she lathered shampoo on her palms before she started scrubbing Amir's head. "Now close your eyes, little cat. This will sting your eyes a bit."

"Uuuu…"

"This might be an awkward place for introductions, but I haven't known your names yet. By the way, I'm Yukari Yakumo – what yours?"

"Amir Hakim."

Yukari turned to the little fox in the basin. "And yours?"

"Arikado Yamato." The little fox answered. "What were you doing at the shrine anyway, Miss Yukari?" Arikado asked as the gap youkai continues with her business.

"Just a little sightseeing, dear." Filling up the bucket with water, she splashed the contents on top of Amir's head. "I didn't expect the two of you to dive into the gap like that. Both of you are lucky I saw you. Else, you might have been struggling to find a shelter from the night youkai."

A cold shiver ran down Amir's spine.

"_I don't like the sound of that."_

"And yes, youkai here will make a meal out of you two."

Both youngsters' face turned pale.

"Don't worry, as long as you two knew the Spellcard Rules you two would be okay. Not that I can explain it all in here."She said. "Okay. Since you're done, you'll go first."

Yukari spirited him away into one of her usual gaps, getting him all dried, dressed and all that before dropping him in the dining room. The little fox followed him approximately a minute later.

–––

Upon their arrival, Amir and Arikado saw Ran waiting at the dining table. There's a young girl about Amir's age in a red dress sitting next to the nine-tailed fox, and strangely enough she seems to have two cat tails.

"Ran-sama, you didn't tell me that we would have visitors for breakfast."

"Well was going to, but they arrived a 'bit' early this time."

Yukari appeared behind the boys. "Sorry for making you four wait."

"At least the breakfast's not getting cold." Ran answered coldly. "Don't you want to introduce yourself to them, Chen?"

The catgirl broke out from her reverie. "Ah! My name's Chen. Chen Yakumo. The woman over there is my master, Ran Yakumo and you might already know my master's master, Yukari Yakumo. What's your name?"

"Amir Hakim." Amir replied. "My full name's might be a bit too long, just call me by 'Amir' for short."

"I'm Arikado Yamato. Nice to meet you."

One thing that struck Ran is that Amir's capability to speak Japanese. "I just noticed this – you seem to be having little trouble speaking in our language."

"Actually, I understood the language after eating some of Arikado's magic candy during our previous… escapades… before." He said, trailing off some words. "Right now, it feels as if everyone in here is speaking my native language. Right, Arikado?"

"Actually my mom made those, not me." The little fox spoke in a different language to Amir.

"Oh, right."

Yukari clapped her hands once, and everyone else's attention turned towards her.

"Alright people. Let's not wait for our breakfast to become even colder now, shall we?"

"Oh, right, forgot about that."

On the table was bowls of rice, and then there's few fried fishes pickled vegetables, some meat curry and fried eggs. Amir however seemed hesitant to eat.

Chen was the first who noticed that the other black cat didn't start taking a bite. "Why are you not eating, Amir?"

"For a reason, but let's not talk about some things in front of a food." Arikado said, after getting a first bite on the chicken.

Yukari knew a reason why. "Don't worry, little cat. I bought the chicken from a small market around your hometown yesterday… I think the shop was called 'Saidalvi' or something. The prices for the groceries are pretty cheap there."

Amir then turned to Arikado, whispering.

"_It's that wet market in Jalan Sena. I think you're saved for the food, at least."_

"_Okay then."_

But even when it's safe to eat, there is another problem. Amir found himself fumbling with the chopsticks again. "Can you use chopsticks? I can take out the silverware if you want to." The nine-tailed fox asked the black cat.

"…I prefer eating by hand, but using spoons and forks would be okay." Amir replied to Ran in a bit embarrassed tone present in his voice.

"I'll grab those for you." Ran then disappeared into the kitchen while the rest resumed eating.

Later, Ran came back with a shiny spoon and fork, before she and Amir resumed their meal.

–––

"I heard from Ran-sama that the two of you are youkai. Is that true?" Chen asked, once they were resting around after the breakfast.

"Erm… not really. I'm a hanyou, because my Otou-san and Okaa-chan are a half-youkai." Arikado explained. "Amir is once a human, until someone gave him an enchanted pendant."

"A pendant that makes a human turn into a youkai?"

"Basically, yeah, that's it."

At the same time, Ran and Yukari are inspecting the mentioned pendant. The gemstone is an oval diamond, with the silhouette of a cat's head in the center.

The diamond pendant glimmered as sunlight hits it.

"Ah, that's a beautiful pendant." Yukari praised. "Who gave it to you?"

"Thanks, Miss Yukari. Someone named Colonel Schneider gave it to as some sort of a present, but I ended up being some sort of a guardian to it." Amir said. "I liked the cat traits this pendant gave me, because my mother pets me every time I'm done doing my school homework."

"I see that pendant did turn you into a nekomata." Ran exclaimed.

"Huh?" Amir looks puzzled from the foreign term. "What's a nekomata?"

"A nekomata is a youkai cat. It was also believed that after a cat reached ten years of age, its tail would slowly split into two tails, and, along the way, it would develop magic powers, primarily those of necromancy and shamanism." Ran explained.

"If that is taken into account, I'm still eleven years old and my tail's still one."

"How about you turn around and look again." Ran said, motioning Amir to turn around with her finger.

Silence falls immediately when Ran uttered those instructions. Amir turned around and took a good look at his black tail, which were lying calmly on the ground.

There are now two tails instead of one.

"Eeeeeeh…?" Amir was pretty much shocked. "Since when did it split and why didn't I feel this earlier?"

"It's a sign of your age, or the age of that youkai soul you brought along with you." Ran remarked. "Though, it's nice to see another nekomata around."

Chen was obviously happy at this revelation, but Amir on the other hand was quite the opposite.

"_That looks freaky." _He thought, pulling his second tail to make sure that it's real.

"I'm sure you and Chen would get along pretty well." Yukari made a remark.

"I think so." Amir said.

Then, a voice could be heard calling Chen from outside of the house. "Cheeen! Are you in there? Come on! Let's play!"

Chen then stood up. "Well, I think Wriggle and the others are waiting, so I'll better go now." The catgirl then turned to the boys. "Are you two coming along with me?"

"I'll be right behind you."

"Let's go!"

Chen flashed a happy smile as she skipped out of the house. Amir and Arikado followed suit, leaving both Ran and Yukari at the household.

When the two boys and Chen had left, Ran turned around to question Yukari about the young duo.

"Yukari-sama?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think that they would be able to defend themselves if they are in danger?"

"You can always count on Chen." Yukari replied. "For now, the two is defenseless if anything happens to them. I'll make sure I'll fix that soon."

"And how are you going to do that?"

Yukari took out her fan and chuckled. "That's secret~" With those words, she disappeared in her portals again, leaving her frowning servant behind.


	3. Red–White, Black–White

CHAPTER 3: Red-White, Black-White

~Gensokyo, Misty Lake [Morning]~

Because of the fact that both Amir and Arikado could not fly yet, they chose to jog beside Chen, who was flying at their eye level. Joining them were Chen's friends, whose outside appearance were about the same age as them.

"So, the two of you are from the outside world?" One of the girls asked. She had green hair and a pair of insect antennas coming out from the top of her head. She's Wriggle Nightbug, an insect youkai whom Chen introduced earlier.

"Yes we are." Amir replied.

"How did the outside world look like?" She asked curiously. "Miss Keine taught us about the world outside, but I'm curious on how does it look like for an outsider."

Arikado replied the bug's question. "It's full with stone buildings – in the city, by the way. At least, in our case, brick houses and school buildings. We go to school five days a week for five hours. Some people like have extra classes until evening."

"I see."

"Well, in the weekends we can play a lot. My I don't know where my older brother has gone to now but my sister is studying abroad."

"What's abroad?"

"A country that's not of our origin."

"Oh."

"Here we are, the Misty Lake."

The girls then stopped flying and then they landed next to the lake. Amir and Arikado followed suit, slowing down from a sprint to a jog right beside them.

"Hey Cirno! Daiyousei! We're here! Hurry up!" Wriggle called out.

A voice replied from beyond the trees. "On it!"

And then two more girls appeared at Wriggle's call, both of them appear to be fairies wearing blue dresses with different patterns. Both had different wings, the one with the blue hair seemed to have icicles for wings. Chen introduced the boys to both Cirno and Daiyousei.

–––

After playing hide and seek for a while, Cirno was the first one to be bored. With their heightened sense of smell, Chen, Amir and Arikado were good seeker respectively; and the three won easily.

While the others are lounging around under the shade of a large tree, Arikado on the other hand spotted a building across the mist.

"Say guys…"

"Yeah?"

"…what's that red building over there?" Arikado asked, pointing at a strange, red-colored mansion mansion across the lake.

Daiyousei quickly replied. "That's the Scarlet Devil Mansion. There are two vampire sisters that live in the mansion. I've heard from the lazy gate guard that one of the sisters is very powerful."

"Scarlet Devil Mansion…" Amir trailed off. _"I guess someone's being a fan of the Red Devils?"_

_"Nice assumption, but no. It's just a coincidence."_

_"That was a joke, lah."_ Amir then turned towards Cirno. "So who else lived in that mansion?"

"There's this lazy gate guard, a scary maid who throws tons of knives, a librarian and her assistant, that 'charismatic' vampire and her younger sister."

"What, they have no name?"

"Eh… I forgot." The ice fairy scratched the back of her head. "What was their name again, Dai?

"I can only remember the gate guard's name. Don't look at me."

"Well, what should we do now?"

"How about we pull a prank on Hakurei?"

"She'd kill you, you know…"

The whisper drags on, Arikado and Amir chose to ignore them. Both of them nearly fell asleep when the girls took off.

"Where are you going?" Arikado asked when he and Amir noticed the girls are getting ready to fly away from the shade.

"Follow us~!"

~Gensokyo, Hakurei Shrine [Afternoon]~

Instead of climbing the steps, the boys and girls chose to sneak up on Reimu in order to surprise her. She could be seen sweeping the grounds at the shrine, and of course, mumbling about the donations that she didn't get.

"Sheesh… no visitors again, today… I guess the donation box's empty again…"

"Is she always like this?" Amir whispered to Wriggle.

"Yeah. Most of the time… yeah."

Amir looked around, but he didn't see Arikado among the group.

"Hey, where's Arikado?" Amir asked.

After a quick look around, they saw the fox at the offering box, dropping in some coins. There was a moment of silence, before Reimu came running towards the offertory box.

"Good morning, miss shrine maiden." Arikado greeted Reimu while smiling.

"Good morning." Reimu then started with a question. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you from the outside world?"

"Yes, I am, and came here with my friends."

The shrine maiden sighed. "Thought so. Where are your friends?"

Arikado turned around and waved to the place where Amir and the other girls were hiding.

"Drats." The black cat muttered under his breath. _"Nice job, Arikado."_

_"Hey, come on. This is not some sort of a spy game, you know."_

"Alright, come out of your hiding one by one before I exterminate you."

The black cats got out first, followed by the darkness youkai, the nightbug, the night sparrow and lastly the fairies.

"Oh, it's you girls again. Trying to pull a prank on me?"

Amir, Chen and Wriggle quickly took their distance. Mystia also followed suit, but Daiyousei stayed behind with Cirno hiding behind her.

–––

As a punishment for trying to pull a prank on the shrine maiden, Reimu awarded the ice fairy with multiple hits to the head with her gohei before she invited the two outsiders for tea.

After the black cat and small fox introduced themselves to the shrine maiden, Reimu then started questioning on how the boys end up in Gensokyo.

"What were you two doing when Yukari brought you to Gensokyo?"

Arikado scratched his head to find an answer. However, Amir beat him to it.

"Arikado had me to follow him for some moon-sighting at our favorite tree, so I had to follow him." Amir continued. "Arikado saw Miss Yukari so we tried to approach her, but in the end we dived into her portals in reflex. And that's how we ended up in here."

"I see." Reimu said, sipping her cup of tea. "And where are the two of you were staying now?"

"Mayohiga. Yukari told us to live with her and her shikigami for a while, until she could get us back home."

Reimu sighed. "I don't think that you two would be back anytime soon."

"What? Why's that?" Amir asked.

"While Yukari could send the two of you back home with her powers, she only does it whenever she feels like it." The miko said, sighing.

"The part 'when she feels like it' doesn't go well to me." Amir remarked.

"…uuuu…"

Noticing that tears welling up in Arikado's glassy eyes, the shrine maiden tried to comfort Arikado. "Don't worry. While you're here, you can learn a lot of things. Can you two fly yet?" Reimu asked.

"No." Amir replied. "Though I would love to know how."

"Okaa-chan taught me on how to fly, but she told me not to fly back home for certain reasons. I'm trying to remember the techniques."

"Well, if Marisa came here to visit, maybe you can ask her if she can teach you to fly, Amir."

Outside of Reimu's house, the boys' sensitive ears caught some whooshing noises, before someone appeared at the door.

"Speak of the devil." The shrine maiden sighed.

"Morning, Reimu! I came here to play, ze!"

"Oh look, it's the black-white witch." Cirno exclaimed.

"How rude. You should be calling people by their proper name." Marisa then turned to Amir and Arikado. "Oh, what do we have here?"

"They're from the outside world, Marisa." Reimu said. "Yukari brought them here, like usual."

"Youkai from the outside world? You're so cute, ze!" Marisa said as Arikado stared at her curiously. "Ah, there's another one too. What's your name?"

"Arikado Yamato." He replied. "And I am not a youkai."

"How so?"

"I am a hanyou. Amir's the bona-fide one."

"Ah, I see. You're just like Rinnosuke, but I wonder why you don't look like a half-and-a-half." Marisa then turned towards the black cat's position. "Amir is it? What's your full name again?"

The black cat took a deep breath. "Mohamad Amir Hakim Omran."

There was a moment of silence before Marisa resumed talking. "…That's… that's quite a mouthful."

"Yeah, I know." He said. "Just Amir, Hakim or Amir Hakim would be fine."

"Noted."

Not a moment too soon, the fox hanyou fell asleep after resting his head on the kotatsu.

"Miss Marisa…?"

"Yes?"

"Can you teach me how to fly?"

"Flying?"

Amir vigorously nodded, as if he was begging for the black-white witch to teach him on how to fly.

"Hmm… I think I might be able teach you on how to fly, but you gotta be able to danmaku first, kitty!"

"Eh, is it really that complicated? And what's danmaku?"

"Not really." Marisa said. "If you want to fly, you should be able to fire back just in case people are spamming bullets at you."

"O…kay?" Amir becomes even more confused with Marisa's explanation. Upon noticing Amir's confused face, Reimu started explaining instead.

"There are many ways to protect you from the danger of being eaten by youkai, Amir. However, the only one solution that doesn't involve murdering is Danmaku under the Spellcard Rules. As for the meaning of the word it means 'bullet hell'."

"Oh. Okay."

Marisa interjected. "Ever tried _Castle of Shikigami_ before?"

"Nope." The black cat denied. "Though I do have some… experiences of being attacked with it beforehand."

"Do tell."

Amir then told the shrine maiden the moment he first arrived in Gensokyo. During the fairies' attack, he told Reimu that he had blinding orbs of various colors shooting towards his direction. He was hit squarely in the head, but he only passed out.

"Fairies. Classic." The black-white remarked after Amir finished telling his story.

"So what is this "Spellcard Rules" by the way?"

"The Spellcard Rules are made so that humans and youkais didn't end up killing each other. They can fight each other in equal terms. If you get hit, you'll not be gravely injured, like what happened to you earlier."

"I see."

When afternoon arrives, Chen and the boys excused themselves, before they went back to Mayohiga. The rest of the youngsters went on their own way, promising to meet up again tomorrow morning.


	4. Playing with Thunder

CHAPTER 4: Playing with Thunder

During lunch at Mayohiga, Amir was extremely quiet. Unlike Arikado who were happily telling Yukari and Ran about what happened at the shrine earlier that day, the black cat was deep in his thoughts.

"Amir?" The gap youkai called the black cat's name.

Amir snapped out from his daze. "Yes?"

"Why are you not eating yet? Being picky on food again?"

"Not really… I've been thinking about the spell card rules she's talking about. Is it really that complicated? Do we even have to fly to learn one?"

"First question – no it isn't. Second question – it's subjective. Certain people I watched fight danmaku against airborne opponents while grounded. It's a spectacular sight to begin with."

Yukari finished with her lunch, and she asked Amir to meet her outside of the house after he's done eating. Amir quickly emptied his bowl of rice with Chen and Arikado imitating him. Ran, on the other hand stared at the three youngsters blankly.

"Thanks for the meal!" Chen and Arikado exclaimed, while Amir made a quiet prayer.

Before Ran could say anything, the youngsters had already ran out of the dining room.

–––

"Miss Yukari, we're here!"

"That was fast." Yukari commented.

Once the youngsters were gathered, Yukari explained the spellcard rules to Amir Hakim and Arikado Yamato. Once she was done with the explanation, Amir raised a hand to the air.

"Yes, Amir?" Yukari turned to the black cat for his question.

"What are the basics?"

"You can't have a smoke without a fire." Yukari then shifted her sitting position a bit. "Some people may not have powers or magical prowess to produce danmaku projectiles, so they might use Outside World tools. For example…" Yukari opened another portal next to her and pulled out a M240B machine gun out of it."Like this."

"Wouldn't that be bit overkill?" Arikado asked. Amir on the other hand looked a bit mesmerized at the sight of the machine gun.

"Of course, it needs to be modified to adhere to the rules, which I am going to read for you two next." She threw the light machine gun back into the gap and took a deep breath before exhaling. "This will be a long one. Please pay attention, boys."

"Okay."

"Got it."

"_Each spell shall be given a beautiful and meaningful name. _

_The number of named spells to be used shall be announced beforehand. _

_Attacks relying on physical strength are not to be repeated. _

_Do not attack without reason._

_Reason becomes its own power. _

_If all your named spells are defeated, you are defeated, regardless of your remaining strength. _

_If victorious against a human, you may not kill them. _

_The name of the spell shall be recorded on paper in the same form as this contract. _

_As a result, all of the aforementioned regulations become absolute._

_This paper will be called the "spell card"._

_A concrete method of casting may be discussed later with the shrine maiden."_

Arikado blinked. "Okay, that sheds some light at least, even though it's a bit long."

"That said… Amir, can you step outside of the house for a while?" Yukari requested.

The black cat tilted his head at Yukari's request but he accepted. "Okay."

Amir did as Yukari told him to do, slipping on the geta left under the corridors. Outside of the house, the skies are blue and the clouds are white.

"What now?"

"Look up."

"Look up?"

Arikado knew full well what Yukari was planning to do, but he chose to sit tight and watch. In the meantime, the border youkai opened a gap right above Amir's head. A thunderbolt struck the black cat the moment he looked up to the sky for the third time.

A loud thunderclap was heard and a bright flash of lightning blinded Chen, Ran and Arikado on the spot briefly. As a result of the direct thunder strike, Amir was comically covered in soot instead of being seriously burned, but he was still standing there. A little shocked, Amir blinked his eyes for a while.

Miraculously, he was still standing there in one piece, aside from his soot-covered clothes and the spiked hair. He stood there for a few seconds to register what just happened, before he shook off the ashes off his clothes.

"A-Amir! Are you okay?" Arikado panicked when he sees Amir got struck down by lightning.

"Amir-chan!"

"I'm fine… I think."

The first thing he noticed is that the diamond pendant has turned into amber in color.

"Just as I expected. Like your brother and sister, you can control at least an element. Amar could manipulate fire, Hannan could manipulate both ice and water, and you can manipulate thunder." Yukari said. "That's why you're still alive even the thunder bolt had hit you dead on."

The moment he heard Yukari mentioned his older brother, the black cat felt a little grim. "Do you think the pendant had anything to do with this, Yukari-sama?" He asked to make himself forget what was in his heart.

"Exactly."

Yukari got up and she disappeared into her room. Few minutes later, she returned back to the living room, holding few blank cards with in her hands.

"Amir, Arikado, come here, please." Yukari called the boys, as she sat down next to the tea table. There, she put down the cards, showing it to the boys.

"What is this? Is it a spell card?"

"Yes it is, dear. I encourage you two to create your own spell card patterns, just for the sake of creativity. There is however some rules you need to follow in making one, so read it carefully." She said, giving them both a piece of paper. "Before you came here, I created these cards. However, I did not see anyone I brought to Gensokyo who is able to use these spell cards. You two filled the criteria." Yukari said. "Amir, these cards is yours."

Yukari placed a few blank cards in front of the Black Cat. One of them is already patterned, and the card is titled "_Thunder Cat Sign [Volt Tackle]"_.

"Sweet. Pikachu's Volt Tackle." Amir blurted out; when he noticed Arikado was staring at him. "What?"

Arikado looked away. "It's nothing."

Smiling at the boys' antics, Yukari pulled out another card, this time it is for Arikado. The card's title is "_Fox Sign [Dancing Fox]_".

"This one sounds natural." Putting the spell card on his forehead, Arikado had a vision of him spinning a large top.

"Is it?"

"It is."

"Remember boys, spell cards can be captured. If you defeat someone in a danmaku battle, and survived all of their cards you can deem yourself a winner." Yukari explained. "Do you two understand everything so far?"

"I think so."

"Me too."

"Good." She praised. "Just be careful on whom you are fighting with." She said.

"We will!" The boys promised, before they walked outside.

"Now where are you two going?"

"Maybe going outside and think about designing the patterns." Arikado replied.

"I'm gonna change my clothes first."

"Your clothes are still being dried up. Ran, please go to my room and take the brown kimono and give him those."

Ran nodded silently, before she ushered the nekomata to a different room.

–––

When Amir got his fresh clothes, he disappeared with Arikado, presumably a place where they won't disturb the Mayohiga inhabitants with their Spellcard testing.

"You're generous enough to give them those spellcards, Yukari-sama. Don't you think it's a bit too early for them?" Ran asked when the boys are out of their sight.

"No it isn't."

"What makes you think of that?"

"The boys need to find a way to defend themselves. If they are not customized to the spell card rules, they are bound to get themselves in harm's way. I am saying this because they are still young, even for a youkai and a half."

"Okay… that sounds reasonable enough for me."

"Oh dear. I might have forgotten something." Yukari exclaimed, tapping her fan on her hand. "Chen, can you come over here please?"


End file.
